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Samsung Galaxy Y

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The Samsung Galaxy Y is an entry level smart phone, which is very simple and intuitive to use. It is compact and lightweight and very good value in comparison to rivals. However, it can become sluggish over time. „

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"Looks nice"

"Compact Design"

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"Doesn't often let you complete a call"

"Slow internet browsing"

Other budget smartphones are available......

After hearing good things about various Samsung Galaxy phones I thought this, as a cheaper relation, would be a good buy without costing nearly as much as its upmarket relatives. I discovered the Y stood for "Young" and figured that if it was designed for young people, it would be quick and efficient and ideal even for a non-young person like me.
Wrong.
Although it looked good and was compact and easy to handle, the trouble started when it was switched on and used.
Call quality was poor, with frequent use of the expression "Could you repeat that please" ramping up my PAYG bills. Also it seemed to get bored of my conversations and usually dropped a call part of the way through.
Likewise internet browsing was glacially slow and complemented the call "quality" in this respect. The upside was that, being Android, there are plenty of apps on which to experience the slow browsing facility.
Another design feature which rapidly came to light was that tapping the screen often produced no result, and a further tap or two was needed just to reassure the handset that you actually do want to use a particular icon. That is apart from when being carried in the pocket it would make random calls or perform random and unwanted internet searches, again not helpful under a PAYG arrangement!
So, after a fraught few months I came to the conclusion that the Samsung Galaxy Y is not really a smartphone, but rather a smartphone-shaped object. Either that or it just didn't want to be a phone, and would have rather been a paperweight. But was too light.

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Want a phone that won't phone people? Well I have one that still probably isn't for you...

In my honest opinion, I have to say that my experiences with this phone have not been great. I've head this phone for just over a year now and it already shows signs of saying goodbye. Actually, it showed these signs about a month after I got it, it just seems to have survived for all this time.

***Visuals***

Visually, it's an okay phone. The details on the phone are simple and easy to understand. There are only 5 buttons on the outside of the phone- volume up and down, the lock button, and the two touch-screen buttons are back button and options button. The camera and speaker are also easy to find on the back, along with the earphone port and charger port along the top.There is a customisable wallpaper and lock-screen and the back-light can be very bright if you want it that way. The main menu is clear and easily set out. It has some great short-cuts to app stores etc. and the apps usually worked fine on it.

***Internet***

The internet on this phone varied depending on how it was being accessed. It was quite fast using a Wi-fi connection, however if using a mobile network, the internet was extremely slow and hardly ever worked. There is a possibility that this was because of my mobile network more than the phone itself, but even switching sim cards made it no better. The mobile has Wi-fi, bluetooth and GPS.

***Power***

The battery is absolutely terrible for a phone I mostly use for messaging with. It only takes a few hours before the battery needs recharged, and only around an hour while using the internet or playing a game.

***Functions***

This android mobile is perfectly capable of performing some of the tasks you ask it to. The music player is a feature I use most often and has decent audio and perfect for earphones, however it is difficult to share music on blue-tooth to, for example, a blue-tooth speaker, as you cannot share from the music player it must be done through your files which is difficult to search through since there is no order there. The camera is fine, no one should expect it to be high definition. The voice recorder has quite a good quality and videos are quite good quality too, but take up a lot of room. It is quite difficult to find photos taken though since the folder name is quite obscure. Alarms can be set and can usually be trusted to go off (as long as you keep your phone on and the alarm volume up) and E-mails can be read from your phone as if they were text messages (If you have your internet on).

However what's that thing mobiles are supposed to be able to do? Oh yeah...the ability to phone people! My mobile seemed to have problems with signal no matter the sim card, so a lot of the time when I was talking on the phone to someone, it would just lose signal or make their voices sound like some kind of robot after it got splashed with water. Text messages would fail to send and wouldn't arrive until three hours after they'd been sent. No Grandmother, I can't come over between 12PM and 1PM since I'm already late since I didn't get your message until 2PM!

Another annoying thing it would do from time to time, was decide it was just going to lock itself and not let you unlock it. Any time you tried to unlock it, you would be presented with either a blank screen or your lock-screen which then fades put to a blank screen, not responding to your finger trying to slide the lock-screen up. This would usually fix itself after a few minutes though. Also, sometimes when it's over-worked it can turn itself off.

***Touch-screen***

The touch-screen was quite good and reacted in the way I expected it to and is usually quite quick. It was difficult to text with my big fingers on the tiny letter buttons on the screen. Moreover, if the mobile got too cold or wet or something like that, or it just decided you weren't having a bad enough day, it would not respond for quite a while. But usually, it was fine.

***Durability***

One thing I can give it credit for is the mobile's strength. Being a clumsy person I have dropped my phone on multiple occasions and unlike other phones I've had in the past, it is still standing with hardly a scratch. I should also say that most of the damage done to this phone were not by accident, but by me being so frustrated, when it lost signal or decided it would take the day off, that I would hit it or even throw it off walls. So yeah, durability...

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a good value smartphone

I will not pretend to be tech savvy, in fact I warn you now I am pretty much the opposite, so this won't be a techy review, more my personal opinion and experiences.

Why did I choose this one?We got a flyer through the post from talk talk about their new mobile phone deals. This phone was on the leaflet and was the only one which was £5 a month (small plan), that and the added extra that it was pink sealed the deal for me.

What is it?Samsung Galaxy Y (young) is basically an android smart phone aimed at the younger market. This probably means its a lot more simple than other smart phones on the market. Its a touch screen phone with one button on the front and 2 touch buttons next to it to pretty much control the entire phone. there's then a volume control button on one edge and on/off button on the other edge. simple right? Mine came with a selection of interchangeable backs to customize the look of the phone. I chose pink but there was also silver, white and orange. I also got a 2GB SD card included. The phone fits perfectly in the palm of my hand (104 x 58 x 11.5mm), I really dislike how nowadays phones seem to be getting bigger and bigger. It is also rounded around the edges which I prefer to the sharp square phones which seem to be making a come back. It weighs 97.5g which I am sure isn't the lightest of phones, but I do like that I actually know I'm holding a phone and not got an empty hand, it doesn't feel too heavy when in use.

I'm sure someone will know what all that's about and will find it useful.

In use...This phone is pretty easy to navigate. Everything is basically controlled from one menu which you swipe across to find more options and aps. You can also add your favorite aps to the front screen. You can add as many front screens as you want. I like this because after taking a long time choosing a picture for my wallpaper, the last thing i want is a page full of aps covering it. I usually have the aps just up the sides so I can still see my daughter in the middle. To send a text you have an option of how to input text, you can have a qwerty keyboard, a number pad and letter recognition which i found to be total rubbish as it didn't recognize many letters and would take forever to send one text.To answer a call you swipe the screen right to answer, left to reject the call. simple. The sound is ok. you can hear clearly what is been said...that's all you need right? There is also an option to lock the screen. I do this with a number code, my fiance uses a pattern lock. I prefer the number lock, as sometimes the pattern lock doesn't work fantastic. You need to make sure you touch every dot needed in the code otherwise it wont work, and after a few wrong codes the phone will lock itself and you need to unlock through gmail. The phone can take photos and videos and is usually my preferred choice when capturing my children's milestones. the photos are good, not fantastic but definitely better than camera phones I have had in the past. the shutter speed is pretty long so I do end up with lots of blurry photos where my children have moved while I was taking the photo. There is no light, but there is a night photo capture. when using this mode you and your subject need to stay still for quite a long few seconds. You can connect to the internet via this phone. you can use mobile internet or connect via wireless connections. Either way its easy to set up and use and you can view to your hearts content (as long as its within 4 internet windows, and you don't mind the small screen) You can zoom in and zoom out which is a great feature too.

All in all, its a pretty simple phone to use compared to other smart phones (I went on an i phone and WOAH couldn't get anywhere with it!)

My View...I have used samsung phones for many years and find them to be long lasting and hard wearing. This one is probably the first to go against this trend. I have used this for a year now (many of my others lasted 2-3 years before having any problems), and the samsung galaxy y is becoming very sluggish. The touch screen is sometimes slow to react and will do random things such as open pages i didn't ask it to. The phone will also randomly turn itself off, or refuse to let me answer when someone calls. This one certainly isn't long lasting. On the other hand, my fiances phone was dropped in a cup of tea and after being left to dry is fully working again.

I do like how I can browse the internet on the phone (its a first) and aps can be used/played. The picture quality is good for these and I have no complaints.

one niggle i do have is that to take the sd card out i have to take the back off the phone to get to it. This over time is making the back a bit loose, so if it falls a matter of cm the back will shoot off.

I also do not like how easy it is to make an emergency phone call. I lock my phone so "999" cannot be phoned by my children, and was horrified when my children phoned it (accidentally...shes 2 so doesn't know the number) without having to unlock the phone. On the lock page there is a square to press to go to emergency call and it goes to a number pad where you make the call. This square will activate pretty much constantly. 9/10 of the times I put my password in it will send me to the emergency call page. (this knocks off a star!)

Although it is a bit more complicated than any other phone I've had before, I had no problems working out how to use it, this on its own shows how simple this phone is. It may be a bit too simple for the technological teens of today. My 5 year old can use this phone with ease.

Recommendation?Its a tough one....yes its a good phone and yes it is simple. but its not long lasting, but on the other hand teens seem to change their phones regularly so this may not be a problem for them. I would say yes I would recommend, but with a warning about the ease at which you get to the emergency call page.

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Great phone, good value for money.

I got one of these about a year ago. I have 2 toddlers and it is still working perfectly with just the odd mark on the back, not a single mark on the screen surprisingly! They've chewed it, drooled on it, dropped it and thrown it and nothing has destroyed it yet (i may have jinxed it now!)I don't generally go in for using my phone for everything. I check my emails, use twitter, browse the net a little, use the google maps app ocassionally, mostly call and text. This phone is very good for all that. You can get loads of apps for it, it's just that i don't need them! The one and only downside (as with all Samsung phones) is that it's so hard to get the back off. I hate having to do anything with the battery or sim card as you have to wedge a knife in and almost break it off. Other than that i think Samsung have replaced Nokia in the unbreakable phone category.

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I think this is a very good phone for how cheap it is

WHAT IS IT?

A smartphone from Samsung that is made to look like an iPhone but is a lot cheaper to buy.

WHAT I THINK

My husband bought this phone for me because I had only one phone number that was for business and personal telephone calls so my phone was ringing and people were texting me all of the time. He wanted me to have a phone that I could switch off when I was not working or I was having family time so that my clients did not think they could contact me at any hour. This was to be my work phone and I was going to keep my iPhone for my personal use but it has ended up being the other way around because the iPhone has got more applications and features that are useful for my productivity at work.

This Samsung Galaxy Y phone has got a 3" screen so it is not very large and my husband cannot use the touch screen very easy because his fingers are too big, you can buy a pen to use to type with but I have not done this because my fingers are slim and I can use the screen well.

This phone is android and there are quite a lot of applications you can download, a lot of them are free. You can put them in any order you want to on the screen of the phone but I think they do not respond very fast to touch and sometimes I have to touch a button 3 times before it will work. That frustrates me but it always works in the end so I do not care very much unless I am in a rush or sometimes if I am in a bad mood and I want the button to work straight away!

It is very easy to add my phone numbers and I like that I can access my contacts list very quickly when I want to phone somebody or send a text message. Dialling a phone number is easy also because the keypad is large and I think it is easy to press the correct number, this is one other thing that my husband does complain about. I like also that the camera gives clear photographs and when I want to look at them they are very easy to find and are in a good order that is sensible. I like that the volume control is very easy to use and it is in the correct place if I need to change how loud the phone is while I am talking to someone.

There is 160 MB of memory only but there is a slot where you can put a SD card to give you more room for applications and photos or games. I do not play games but there are a lot to pick from and many of them are free to download, I also do not have any music downloaded onto the MP3 player but you can do that if you like to listen to music on your phone.

The battery is very bad and I have to charge it a lot when I am using it regular, I do not use it as much as a lot of people would so I think they would think the battery was useless. It is a slow phone sometimes but that is not always and usually this happens when I am using the internet, I am glad that I use my mobile phone for basic things only and I think this Samsung phone is good for people like me who do not need to do everything with their phone.

ANYTHING ELSE

My husband paid £50 for this phone and he bought it from Argos, he was given a free SIM card but the phone is sim free so I put my own cars straight in there so I did not have to change my phone number. Inside the box there were 3 different coloured backs for the phone, I have got the pink one on now but I think I will change to the silver back soon because I think that looks better for me. I think this phone is value and I like it very much, if you like to use iPhone or a more expensive phone then I do not think you will like this but I am happy.

4 Dooyoo Stars.

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Ideal as a first foray into the smart phone world.

I am a Samsung girl when it comes to phones and smartphones. I have, until fairly recently, had a Samsung Galaxy 1 which I loved very much. However like all good things it came to an end and I found myself with a contract and no phone. I also have an iPad which I love very much (although not enough to make me want an iPhone) and use it for all my ap and internet activity. So it was that I decided a basic phone was all I needed to replace mine and a basic phone is what I got with this Galaxy Y.

Despite it's fairly basic nature, there are a lot of positive things about the phone. It has the sleek and non-offensive style and design of all other Samsung phones in a smaller design. The homes screen is a familiar layout and the displays are easy to personalise simply by pressing and holding the icons and moving them to where you want them to be.

The camera is fairly good (although there is no flash). It is easy to mail, Facebook or Bluetooth your pictures, even if you aren't very technically advanced, with just one button.

The main problem with the phone is that it is small. Whilst that is not a problem for me because I prefer a smaller phone, the screen size makes things a little bit more challenging, especially if your fingers are on the chubby side, shall we say. The small screen size means that we pages are so small that you can't read them, but if you expand it, it becomes confusing with all the scrolling around you need to do. The typing is another problem because it is so small you often find that you press the wrong letter or number. I find that it is much better if you turn the phone on its side because the keyboard becomes wider and you make less mistakes.

The phone runs on the Gingerbread system so it is quite old, but it works well and I find that it is quick in doing everything I ask it to do, even though I admittedly don't ask it to do very much.

One of the things I like most about Samsung phones over Apple products is that you can add memory to it and this is no different with the Y, which will run effectively with up to a 32gb memory card in it, which is perfect for holding plenty of music or audiobooks and so on.

I got my phone from Argos for £49.99 sim free, which is a good deal. I know the phone is available from places like carphone Warehouse and Phones 4 U but it is nearer the £65 for a sim free phone. You can get it for free on a fairly cheap contract from most places. I'd say it is pretty good value for money and that it is perfect for my needs so I am happy enough with it.

I was surprised with what came with the phone too; for the price you do get a bit. There is a basic user manual and a 4gb memory card which was handy. The thing that will appeal more though especially if you are buying it for a younger user is that it comes with five different backs so that you can choose which colour phone you want and you can chop and change. You get pink, orange, black, grey and blue. The back is easy to change. The only thing missing from the box that I'd like to have seen was a pair of headphones.

Make no mistake, this is very much an entry level smart phone and so is suitable for a first foray into the smart phone world and it is not all singing, all dancing. But, this is reflected in the low price, so I really don't think you can complain. Recommended, just about!

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An okay first smartphone

I have been with Tesco mobile for a few years now and had a rather basic samsung phone, however, after my husband got a smartphone, I started to see the appeal and became quite interested in getting on the bandwagon, as long as it didn't cost me much! Tesco mobile were offering a deal on this Samsung Galaxy Y smartphone, and for the price, I thought it was an ideal beginner smartphone. I really am not interested or knowledgeable about technology, I am just interested in whether it does what it is meant to do. The Samsung Galaxy Y is actually designed for younger people, given the 'Y' is for young. However, even if your not young it is still counted as an ideal first smartphone, and therefore I deemed suitable for me.

When I went to purchase, I opted for the pink colour, not everyone's taste I know, but I did fancy a girly looking phone. It does come in other colours including black and white. The phone itself is sleek and small, and slips easily into the front pocket of my handbag as well as my trouser pocket if I am just nipping out a message. It must be fairly sturdy, as I can be quite clumsy at times, and this phone has already been dropped countless amount of times without damage.

Rather than list all the features, most of which I don't even understand, I am simply going to go through the positives and negatives in my simplistic view!

Positives:Looks goodEasy to use for the beginner like me Texting is easy and straightforward (like all Samsung phones I have had in the past)Good camera producing good quality pictures (well they look good to me)Reasonble battery life (about 3 days without re charging)SturdyWiFi

Negatives: The size of the keypad is unbelievably small, and I make countless errors when I am texting coz the letters are so tight togetherThere can be a bit of time lag sometimes when you touch the screen, or try to move through the various options on the phone Can be difficult to end a phone call especially if you accidently phone someone!

Truth be told, I tend to still use my phone for simply calling and texting, but I do like the fact that it offers WiFi and I can download a few select apps, although there are already a few apps already on the main menu, including a weather one which I use a lot (what am exciting life I lead!)

All in all, I am slightly disappointed with this phone, particularly with the tiny size of the keypad and those other negative I mentioned, but given the price I pay per month, I don't think I can complain overly, especially when I am not using this phone heavily. Good, but there may be better basic smartphones out there!

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Samsung galaxy y is a good,trendy smartphone compared to its price and customer service support.It has a stylish look and a decent processor.we can move on to its specifications:first of all the main part is its processor it has a 832 MHz Processor lets you access multiple applications and browsers.next part is its 3 inch TFT touch screen also very good and touchwiz for smooth touch control.then moving to its os.It has the all new Android 2.3.5 interface to let you explore over 2 lakh applications on the Android Market.But the camera and video recording of 2MP is not much of promising which also a drawback.Music player and fm radio is supported.It has 3G and 2G enabled.It comes with great connectivity options like Bluetooth,USB and Wi-Fi.It is expandable up to 64 GB.It has a low internal memory of 190 MB

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Fantastic value for money

The Samsung Galaxy Y is a lower specification smart phone which runs Android. Although the 'Y' stands for Young, it doesn't mean that the device is purely limited to those who are within the target age group. Being targeted at the young brings one clear advantage to any buyer, and that is the price.

I bought this phone at Christmas from Virgin Media for around £60 and it has been a brilliant smartphone throughout the six months. The phone's Android capabilities are somewhat outdated, running the Gingerbread rather than any newer versions, but this does not detract from the good points of the handset.

The customisation options of the Android operating system seem near limitless, as you can change many features on the home screen and lock screen to best suit you. The Google play store offers thousands of free apps which run on the phone, though sometimes open a little slowly. Many popular games such as 'Angry Birds' and 'Fruit Ninja' work on the phone, though many newer games which are being introduced are designed for tablets and larger smartphones.

The only major negatives I can think of are the small screen size and resolution and the low internal memory, which is quite irritating as some apps have to be installed to the internal memory rather than the SD card. However, I feel that the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives, and this phone is one to consider if you want a good-looking, affordable smartphone from a trusted brand such as Samsung.

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Ideal first Smart phone for all ages

I recently changed my mobile to a Samsung Galaxy Y with Tesco Mobile and love it!

I am quite a dinosaur when it comes to technology, the last phone I had was a Noxia X2 which was part touch screen and part keypad but the touch screen part was only very limited. I have been with the 3 Network for over 6 years and have always been pleased with the service and tariffs, but when I called to upgrade got so annoyed with different people telling me what I needed and what the best deal was for me without listening to what I was saying, I cancelled my contract with them. My criteria was quite simple, a small screen smart phone with round edges and pink or purple in colour at less than £10 a month, but I was told this wasn't possible and that I didn't really want this option! (However when I went through to the cancellations department a few days late I was offered something similar but by this time it was too late - I had already converted to Tesco Mobile!) As you can probably gather from the above the newest all singing dancing phones do not appeal to me in the slightest, I just need a phone to call, text, take the occasional photograph and listen to the radio periodically. Having said that though I have used the mapping on the phone when I have forgotten to take my satnav to work to help to find my way around as I have to travel around the West Midlands.

When I first got the phone out of the packet I hadn't got a clue how to use it and it did take me a few weeks to navigate round the different pages but with a bit of help from my husband and son I can now do what I need to do. I am very aware that there are loads of other things I can do and have set myself a target of learning something new every week, so by the time I get round to changing my phone again I should be completely au fait with it!

What I like about the phone:

I love the shape and feel of the phone, the back is quite textured which makes it easy to keep hold of.The camera is easy to use and the photographs seem to be of a good quality, I have printed one off the other day and it is very sharp and clear.The radio is also easy to use and the sound quality is good from the headphones provided. If you have a text an envelope appears at the top of the screen which you drag down to open and the whole conversation appears with that personEasy change from keypad to qwerty keyboard (at the moment I am using both, not sure which one I like best)

What I don't like so much about the phone:

On a couple of occasions when I have gone to end the call when I tap the screen the icons do not appear so I cannot press the red end call button, I have had to switch the phone off and on again. I did read in another review that this had happened to someone else and they said had found out how to rectify this, but didn't say how to do it (so if anyone reading this can let me know I would be most grateful).

I am not going to go into any technical details about the phone, as a) I don't know any, and b) if people are really interested they will look online and also to be fair the phone is quite old now and most people have changed their phones several times since having a Galaxy Y and won't be interested. No idea what terms like Gingerbread or Ice Cream Sandwich are in relation to phones, are they not yummy summertime treats??

I know most people will wonder why I'm raving about such an old phone but it is my introduction to my first Smart phone and I am very pleased with the phone (and my ability to use it). Also I have got 5000 texts, 300 minutes and 2mb of data for the fabulous price of £7.50 a month plus I get my Tesco clubcard points aswell.

All in all I think this is an ideal phone for anyone using a Smart phone for the first time. I found out afterwards that the Y stands for young but I would disagree with this as I feel it is perfect for everyone.

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There are better phones around for your pennies, but there are worse also.

Mobile phones sadly have a torrid time in my hands. My last phone was a Samsung Galaxy Y which I owned for approximately 3 months until recently.

Despite its solid appearance it was really no match for the taxi car door that I slammed into it (the phone fell out of my pocket just as I was closing the door)

If Samsung ever need design ideas for a banana shaped phone they should get in touch with me. When I did manage to get the pieces of the phone together, I was hopeful that the shattered screen would at least offer a convincing image of Jesus that I could run to the Daily Mail with, but alas it wasn't to be. Still, I managed to get some feel for the phone before it joined its three predecessors (in one year!) in the cell phone grave yard.

Its immediate predecessor was a Samsung Tocco Lite which I really liked for the scant 7 weeks I owned it (before it went out in a flash of blue lighted glory after I got it wet in my shorts pocket during a Lake District downpour). I foolishly went a little upscale to spend around £75 on the Galaxy Y as I figured I'd like it even better. Actually I didn't, although in the end I concluded it wasn't a bad phone.It's for young people

I didn't realise when I bought it that the "Y" stood for "Young". I think the idea is that the Y is a cheap phone for stylish young people, which offers basic android functionality with apps and the like. To be honest, the phone looks the part (well mine used to anyway) and the screen is a three inch smaller version to the bigger and more expensive Galaxy phones.

While it has the app styling and touch screen functionality, I actually found the images rather fuzzy looking and certainly not as clear as my previous Tocco Lite. Likewise turning on the beast seem to take rather longer for it to whirr into action.

You can set up a password and I made the mistake of including the digit zero. The "touch" on the touch screen is a little clumsy and I found I kept on bringing up the emergency number functionality instead. While I do inevitably have old man's hands, they are comparatively small with long thin "pianist fingers" (as my grandmother would say), so goodness only knows how a bricklayer type might cope.

We live in a cave (a 360 year old cottage with 2 foot thick stone walls). Vodaphone is our only practical mobile phone option and this phone was equally as effective as all the other phones I have owned for connectivity (strictly for the front of our house only).

Internet playing

I found it quite easy to get onto the internet using my little Samsung Galaxy Y, and in fact upset my beloved more than once as her "big beast" contract Samsung Galaxy phone struggled to access the internet whereas my PAYG slipped into Google search with ease.

Like bigger boys the screen turns sidewise if you want to use a bigger keyboard (my fingers might be slim, but my eyes are shot).

Unfortunately internet searching and PAYG aren't happy bed mates and I was finding the phone costing me about twice as much on PAYG to my previous phones even though I didn't use it that much for anything.

Photo style

I'm told the camera on the Galaxy Y is pretty good (it is a 2 meg image which seems quite adequate to me rather than pretty good) but the tight functionality within the guts of the phone meant I would have to add a micro SD card to store my images. It was a little purchase I was meaning to get around to. It was one less thing to smash.

Battery

Unfortunately these phones haven't quite matched the battery development needed for power hungry apps and internet searching, and if I used the phone for anything, I was finding that I needed to top up the battery. Despite my phones having such a short shelf life I actually am a very light phone user and if I hadn't used my phone for a week, then the battery life usually remained OK if not completely topped up.

However, unlike the old "emergency" phone we use at work that sits in the fire marshals bag for weeks on end with an occasional top up, this phone always needed a top up at the end of a week even with no use whatsoever.

Summing up

I'm sure the Galaxy Y would annoy anyone with a passion for the best and most developed type of Mobile phone but I did warm to it by the end, despite my initial disappointment that it was "different" to my Tocco Lite rather than "better". I'm sure gamers and frequent users would find the functionality and speed a bit sluggish, but for the 2 minutes a day on average I used it, I was quite happy with it, and it looked "modern" enough not to elicit too loud a groan from my 16 year old niece when she borrowed it to ring her boyfriend.

That said, I probably won't buy an exact replacement as I found the cheaper Tocco Lite just as user friendly for my purposes, and I'm getting a little tired of splashing out the likes of £70 4 times a year for something I don't use too often.

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Smartphones for beginners

High-end this isn't - although it could just about pass for a top-notch smart phone (notwithstanding its diminutive size), this is very much the entry-level end of the market. With the same basic stylings as the higher-level models in the Samsung Galaxy series, this certainly ticks the visual boxes - it's neat, functional, sleek - so good first impressions are made. A quick play around with the Y, however, shows up its deficiencies.

Of course, it's worth qualifying this - you pay proportionately for what you're (not) getting. I - like most of the phone's owners, I imagine - got the handset free with a pretty modest contract, so expectations were hardly sky-high. Indeed, I'm actually pretty happy with what I've got. I don't feel like I need the bells-and-whistles, all-singing end of the market, so the Y feels like a good choice. It's just worth emphasising that this is very much a my-first-smartphone type thing.

The basics are all here - social networking is well-integrated, there's a decent camera, sensitive touchscreen, a variety of apps and whatnot - but the quality of these is patchy, thanks to the handset. Basically, it's screen size that's the issue - there's only so much you can do with a 3-inch screen; websites need to be zoomed in so much that it's hard to work out where you are, and texts take up the whole of the screen in landscape mode, meaning you can't see what you've previously said. What's more, with so little space, all manner of simple tasks are fiddly, and frustration can be substantial.

The hardware underpinning it all does its job just fine, and it's a generally well-designed phone. It's just well worth being clear on what you want and asking yourself whether you wouldn't rather pay a little more for a phone that really makes the most of the smartphone experience.

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nice,very useable entry to the galaxy family,highly recommended !!!

I bought my Galaxy Y back in march this year when I went into a local Cash Converters and bought my nearly new phone for £50,it was in immaculate condition and had been chipped for network,mine being o2.

The Samsung Galaxy range is a family of devices from smart phones to tablets,media players and even cameras that use the android operating system.

The Galaxy Y is the entry level smart phone.The Y stands for young and is aimed at the younger user but is also an ideal entry point for the less technically minded 'older' user like myself ;-)

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Ok for the technical stuff ~

It's form is a slate,dimensions are ~

4.1 in H 2.3 in 0.45 in D

and weighs 9.75g

It uses Andriod 2.3.5 (upgraded 2.3.6) gingerbread operating system.

Has uses a single core 832 MHz ARMv6 along with broadcom BCM 2763 videocore IV

On the back of the device is a 2Megapixel fixed focus camerawithout flash that can recordvideos in up to a maximum QVGAResolution but no forward facing camera.

Compatible networks are GSM 850/900/1800/1900HSDPA 7.2 Mbps 900/2100

It has also has 3G,HSDPA,bluetooth and wi-fi connectivity options.

It has multi touch touch screen,talk activation option aswell.

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What's it like in real life ??

It fits nicely in the hand,comfortable to hold and use with a bright,colourful and clear display with countless settings to customise to your personal taste.

The sound quality when making calls can be tinny and not as clear as I'd like often times but useable certainly.

Text messaging is straightforward although I find the space button sandwiched btwn input (t9 - abc) and message settings a real pain at times but uery useable apart from that.You have predictive,abc,handwriting and more input methods.

If all I wanted was a phone for calls and texts i'd have got a very basic Samsung for £10 but I want to be able to browse the internet,read emails and use söcial networks.

The internet capacity of this phone is excellent though browsing can be torturous when using 3G it is quick on HSPDA and almost seamless on wi-fi (quicker than my pc wi broadband.lol).

The factory browser is good but a little clunky which is why I downloaded Opera Mini making for an excellent online experience.

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For a cheap,useful,practical first smartphone I couldnt recommend this more highly.

It's more reliable,intuitive,pleasing to use and has more capabilities and much better preformance than apparently more advanced iphone or blackberry phones of higher capacity.

The internet performance is far superior with 1,000's off apps from google play and samsung apps.

The downside are the lowish resolution camera,it can take ok photos with plenty of light but the video recording isnt great.

Also battery life isn't great needing constant recharging.

I give it 8.5/10 and will be upgrading to a higher spec Galaxy when the time comes.

BB

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A good phone, if you need a very small device that has good battery and signal

Ok so I guess my first point should be to say that I got this phone with my contract because it meant that i could get a "Free" Nexus 7. I was OK with this as I thought the phone would be pretty usable anyway, Considering all I do is call and text. Not to get into too much detail just yet, But in the following review I will be covering everything good, and bad with this phone.

-- Design --

Ok so I guess the phone itself is quite good looking, If you go for a phone that would have looked good 10 years ago. ( That was a joke ) The phone does fit in quite well with today's "Smartphones", and you wont be too embarrassed to pull this out to text.

The phone is quite nice to hold and has a lovely textured back that means you do not loose grip of your precious device. Now while the screen is low quality, more on that later, the glass and bezel itself is very nice to look at and has a very nice gloss finish.

While the phone looks and feels, I will now explain "Y" this phone should not be picked over the many alternatives.

--Function--

The samsung galaxy Y has a minuscule screen, Literally the length of my thumb. While I am sure that some people will like this "Cute" form factor, as a man I just can not stand it. It means that as well as being horribly low resolution typing is impossible, what would take you 10 seconds on a qwerty phone, or even an iphone ( Or Galaxy SIII, HTC One X etc. ) now takes you around 4-5 hours. The first text i tired to send was "just got my new phone :D xx" however It came out more like "ghujst ghoge mnu mknre phorhn3e czz" And i was less than impressed leaving the "What the fuck have I bought" Though lingering in my head.

If you can manage with an impossibly small screen and awful resolution, well done, but also I should point out some good parts. The phone quality, as in phone calls, is actually rather amazing. People told me I could be heard very clearly, and the high quality speaker made that I could hear them just fine too! In addition to calls sounding great, the signal strength is quite honestly insane, I was in the middle of nowhere with everyone else getting no reception at all and this little phone managed to pull full bars at all times!

--Overview--

Ok so if you can't tell by the wall of text above, I am not overly keen on this phone. It will be joining the graveyard next to the Iphone 3, Iphone 3GS, Iphone 4 and 5 I have dead on my shelf. I was not expecting the quality of a bigger phone but was expecting at least a good backup phone ( I wouldn't even use this as backup ) If you have the money, Please stick to the larger Galaxy SIII or even the HTC alternative. I love my SIII and this Y is just a let down, Yet they could have made a very nice little phone...